Fitzgerald's voter ID proposal panned

A legal challenge to Pennsylvania's new law requiring voters to show a valid photo identification card will reappear in court next week.

A court clerk said Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson will take up the case on Tuesday. The state Supreme Court ordered a review of whether registered voters are able to get the state-issued photo IDs they need to vote.

Simpson initially denied the plaintiffs' request in August to halt the law. The high court asked for an opinion by Oct. 2, 35 days before the election.

Vic Walczak of the American Civil Liberties Union says he expects a two-day hearing, with witnesses testifying and affidavits from people who he says have had a difficult time trying to get an ID.

Daily Photo Galleries

State officials and an Allegheny County councilwoman raised questions on Thursday over County Executive Rich Fitzgerald's plan to print photo IDs for voting on “loose-leaf paper.”

Fitzgerald, a Democrat opposed to the law requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls, said the Community College of Allegheny County and Kane Regional Centers would offer the free identification to any Pennsylvania voter who wants it.

The law, which a Commonwealth Court judge is reconsidering for enforcement during the Nov. 6 elections, allows voters to use ID from accredited colleges and long-term care facilities such as the Kanes.

“The idea was to provide the ID for people associated with the college as a student or as a resident of the care facility,” said Ron Ruman, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections. “We do not believe the intent was that these facilities could make IDs for anyone.”

“This is a circumvention of” the law, said Republican County Councilwoman Heather Heidelbaugh of Mt. Lebanon, an election lawyer. “It's not what was intended.”

Fitzgerald defended the program, saying it follows the law and will afford voters more and easy options for getting IDs. Those issued through CCAC and Kane centers will be good for five years and appear on 8.5-by-11-inch paper — “like a regular piece of loose-leaf paper,” Fitzgerald said.

“There's no way” to mistake them for official college or senior-center IDs, he said.

“Our job is to make this easy; our job is to make voting accessible,” Fitzgerald said at a Downtown news conference. He said the outreach will help disadvantaged residents cross “that high bar and the many hoops that the Republicans in the Legislature tried to impose on the voters.”

State officials do not see the effort as “necessarily illegal,” Ruman said. However, it raises questions over whether the new IDs may be misused.

“If I had a child at that institution, I would be very concerned,” he said. “Whatever else is on (the IDs), these say, ‘Community College of Allegheny County' and have a picture on them. That presents a problem.”

He encouraged voters to seek free photo IDs through the state Department of Transportation.

The partisan debate over Pennsylvania's voter ID law has attracted national attention.

Supporters say it's necessary to prevent fraud. Detractors say the law will disenfranchise an untold number of voters without proper ID, especially the poor, elderly and minorities

Election-law expert Nathaniel Persily isn't convinced the county ID campaign will get many takers — “unless, of course, a high-schooler might be able to buy beer as a result.”

About six weeks before Election Day, “most people worried about voting have gone to get IDs” already, said Persily, a Columbia University law professor.

“If people are unwilling to go to a PennDOT office with their birth certificate, it's not clear to me what share of the population” will use the county option, he said.

Logistics for the county ID distribution, including specific times and locations, will be announced within days. The county has not set a budget for the service. That will depend on demand, Fitzgerald said.

Participants should be registered voters and must present some form of ID acceptable under the previous voter law, such as a nonphoto state or federal ID, a current utility bill or a paycheck.

The state Department of Transportation has provided free photo IDs to eligible voters since mid-March.

From March 14 through Monday, PennDOT offices released 9,478 new IDs statewide specifically for voting needs, Ruman said.

Adam Smeltz is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-380-5676 or asmeltz@tribweb.com.

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Print Source

Welcome to PrintSource, a division of Trib Total Media.

We have established a veteran team that provides daily and weekly newspaper companies with a comprehensive set of services that include design, print, packaging and delivery of their products, all from one source and location.

Gone are the days when each facet of newspaper printing and delivery had to be outsourced to different companies and venues. Now, PrintSource provides a viable solution with just one phone call.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.